


Climbing Mount Kunlun

by salifiable



Category: Chinese Mythology
Genre: F/M, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-19
Updated: 2010-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-13 19:12:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/140704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salifiable/pseuds/salifiable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Not all over the table, venerable sir!" cried Xiao Zhen, but it was already too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



> I'd like to thank svmadelyn for putting up with an incredible amount of complaining from me while I was writing this, and I'd also like to thank tielan for giving me such great prompts and suggestions in her yuletide letter!
> 
> And as for disclaimers: I am not anywhere near an expert on Chinese mythology or history, and I've taken extreme liberties in adapting several Chinese folk tales and myths, as well as mish-mashing what I do know of ancient Chinese culture together to suit the purposes of the story. I've tried my best to do so respectfully, but I'm more than happy to engage anyone who cares to discuss what I could have done/should do better. In the process of writing this, I was inspired (if that's the right word, it felt like pulling teeth) by Barry Hughart's Master Li trilogy, so - if he wrote of an "Ancient China That Never Was", I've resigned myself to the fact that I've probably written an "Ancient China That Never Could Have Been."
> 
> I used a number of sources while writing this, and I've listed them in the end-notes in case anybody is interested in reading more!

"Not all over the table, venerable sir!" cried Xiao Zhen, but it was already too late. The snacks that the hapless official had just recently consumed were now spread all over the table once again, albeit in a far smellier and more disgusting form coming back up than they had been going down. The official's companion held the man's shoulder and got him away from the table, leading him outside with an apologetic look and an extra coin on the table for Xiao Zhen.

Xiao Zhen watched to make sure that the two of them were safely outside, then sighed and went back to the kitchen to fetch the bucket and rags she reserved to this particular purpose. In the few months that she'd been working at her uncle's tea house, she had often wondered whether he ought to have advertised it as a wine shop instead, since it was often difficult to determine which beverage was served in greater quantity any given day.

"Ah, but by serving both wine and tea, it is possible to cater to both those whom Heaven smiles upon, and those who are afflicted by misfortune," her uncle had chuckled when she'd asked him. "Tea for those whom cannot afford celebration and must reflect quietly on their woes, and wine for those who wish to toast their prosperity!" He frowned for a moment. "Or perhaps it's the other way around. Actually, there's never a bad time for wine!"

Whatever the case, all Xiao Zhen knew was that serving tea alone would never result in her having to tackle such smelly cleanup the way that serving copious amounts of wine often did. She had just finished wiping the unfortunate table dry after scrubbing it with soap and water when the door swung open to admit a jostling, laughing group of young men, all dressed in scholars robes.

Xiao Zhen's smile as she ushered the group to an empty table in the corner was genuine; her uncle's tea house was often patronized by scholars studying to take the Imperial Examinations, since it was located only a few blocks away from one of the most popular academies. What Xiao Zhen liked about the scholars who came to her uncle's tea house was that they were usually polite and almost never ordered wine, since the life of a scholar was invariably a frugal one; it meant Xiao Zhen never had to fetch her bucket and rags for them. And she enjoyed eavesdropping on them occasionally listening to them complain about or quiz each other the subjects they were studying; the Imperial Examinations were notoriously brutal, testing a scholar on everything from his knowledge of civil law to his skill with a sword to his literary prowess.

Today, this particular group of scholars was testing each other on each other's ability to compose poems spontaneously on a given theme.

"So, Scholar Yuan," one of the young men said, purposeful. "Give me a poem on the subject of nighttime."

Xiao Zhen watched out of the corner of her eye as Scholar Chang took a sip of tea, his face thoughtful. He was one of the tea house's most frequent visitors, and Xiao Zhen was quite fond of him; he wasn't handsome, but he always had an earnest and goodnatured expression on his face, and he was unfailingly polite to Xiao Zhen whenever she waited on him - although he was usually distracted by the reams of books he brought to the tea house to study.

After a few moments of contemplation, Scholar Chang cleared his throat. "This poem is called 'Night Thoughts,'" he said.

 _Before my bed a frost of light  
Is it hoarfrost upon the ground  
Eyes raised, I see the moon so bright  
Head bent, in homesickness I'm drowned1_

 __"Wa, the examiners will surely be impressed by your eloquence," the first young man said admiringly over the applause from the rest of the group.

"It's nothing," Scholar Chang demurred. "I am sure any of you could do better!"

"Well, we'll see - Scholar Yuan, it's your turn; same theme, gives us a poem on nighttime."

"Oh, but - " Scholar Yuan tried to protest.

"No, no refusal - do you think the examiners will let you pick and choose what parts of the exam you wish to take? Come on!"

Xiao Zhen looked curiously at Scholar Yuan as he subsided, grumbling; he was also one of the the tea house's biggest patrons, usually coming in with Scholar Chang but sometimes coming alone. He always seemed much more melancholy than his amiable, distracted friend. He would often sit in the corner brooding over his cup of tea for hours at a time, watching other people come and go.

Finally, Scholar Yuan made a disgruntled sound. "Fine, this poem is called 'The Coldness of Midnight,'"  
 _  
The night is cold  
Very, very cold  
It is so cold  
That my toes are frozen_

Xiao Zhen stopped momentarily in the process of pouring fresh hot water into a pot at another customer's table; no wonder Scholar Yuan seemed so sad all the time, he had to be the worst poet under Heaven.

"Aiya, how much cash do you have set aside to bribe the examiner who's going to be scoring the poetry section of the exam?" the first young man asked incredulously.

Xiao Zhen was distracted from hearing Scholar Yuan's response by the door opening again and her cousin flitting inside, as colorful and delicate as a butterfly in a spring breeze.

"Xiao Zhen, Xiao Zhen, look at the flute Mother bought me!"

"Yi Ling, what are you doing here?" Xiao Zhen said, wiping her hands quickly on her apron before going to meet her cousin's embrace. "You shouldn't be here alone, where are Aunt Lu and Old Peng?" Refined ladies never went anywhere alone, they were always accompanied by at least one servant if not a retinue - and Xiao Zhen would challenge anybody who didn't acknowledge that her cousin was one of the finest ladies in Chang'an, even if her father was only a merchant.

"Oh, she and Peng are still at the fabric shop, it's only a block away," Yi Ling said carelessly. "But look, isn't it beautiful?" she said, showing Xiao Zhen the carved instrument.

"Yes, it's lovely," Xiao Zhen said dutifully. The truth was, she would have been hard pressed to tell the difference between an ivory flute and a bamboo stalk. Well, to her a bamboo stalk would have been more useful, at least she knew how to cook that.

"Isn't it? And listen - " Yi Ling brought the flute her lips and played a quick succession of silvery notes, the rippling phrases hanging in the air like sweet perfume.

A crash, and a tinkling noise; Xiao Zhen looked around to see every every customer's eyes fixed on Yi Ling, their expressions ranging from coarse ogling to outright adoration. Xiao Zhen suppressed a sigh.

"Cousin, you really shouldn't be here," Xiao Zhen said, trying to herd the other girl out the door.

"Nonsense, this tea house does belong to my father, doesn't it?" Yi Ling retorted. "It's only fitting that I greet his customers and make them feel welcome."

"No, that's why I'm here," Xiao Zhen said. "And the rest of employees. You see, the customers actually have to be able to close their mouths in order to eat and drink the food and tea your father sells them."

Yi Ling giggled. "I suppose you have a point. Look, that poor man dropped his teacup - do you think he'll be able to pay for it? He doesn't look very rich." She giggled again. "Oh, but he is handsome!"

Xiao Zhen turned to look, and there was Scholar Chang, gaping with an absolutely besotted expression on his face and a shattered teacup beneath his frozen hand.

"Here, I'll go over and help him clean it up," Yi Ling said, floating over with a radiant smile.

"Cousin - no, don't - " but it was already too late. Well, Xiao Zhen thought to herself resignedly, at least her cousin had the sense to fall in love with the studious and good-natured scholar rather than any of the other unsavory characters currently in the tea house.

Except over the next few days it was apparent that Yi Ling had utterly ruined the studious part of Scholar Chang's nature. Instead of coming in to the tea house distracted by his usual assortment of books and notes, now he came in distracted and dreamy-eyed, shattering many more teacups in the process. Wonderful; now her uncle's tea house most faithful customers would be a lovesick scholar and depressed one; if either of them ever got their hands on sufficient funds, Xiao Zhen had no doubt they would deplete her uncle's stores of wine entirely.

Xiao Zhen's uncle also owned a small stationery shop located just next to the tea house; since so many of the tea house's customers were scholars, her uncle had thought that it was only sensible to try and cater to their other needs, selling inks and paper and other such stuff. Xiao Zhen occasionally worked in the stationery shop as well, whenever the usual shopkeeper was sick or away. And so it was Xiao Zhen who was minding the shop when Scholar Chang and Scholar Yuan walked in, about a week after Yi Ling had flitted into the tea house.

"Ah, miss," Scholar Chang said, coming over. "Do you sell any azure ink sticks?"

Xiao Zhen raised her eyebrows; it had recently come into fashion to write love letters with azure ink, and Xiao Zhen didn't have to think very hard to guess who Scholar Chang might want to write to. Suddenly, a notion struck her.

"Yes, we do," she said, going over to the shelf and grabbing two ink sticks, one blue and one black. "This is the kind of azure ink we carry, but it's quite expensive, 10 cash per stick," she said, holding the blue ink stick up.

"Oh," he said, deflating.

"It is a lovely shade, though - in fact, I believe it's my cousin Yi Ling's favorite color," Xiao Zhen continued demurely.

"Oh," he said, brightening. "Well, let me see here," he pulled out his purse and started counting out coins.

"But I also wanted to tell you about this other type of black ink we sell," Xiao Zhen said, showing Scholar Chang the other stick. "Very useful for writing essays and practicing calligraphy, it is extremely economical for those who are studying for the Imperial Examinations - only the most diligent of scholars has ever managed to use up an entire stick."

"Really - that's nice," Scholar Chang murmurs distractedly. Xiao Zhen coughed. Apparently less subtlety was necessary.

"In fact, my cousin told me she would greatly admire any man who managed to use up entire stick during his studying for the exams, she said such a man would be truly diligent and worthy of admiration," Xiao Zhen said meaningfully.

"Really?" he said, looking up. "Very well, I'll take - " he looked down at his purse again.

"Two cash for this stick, sir."

"Oh, good, I'll take one, then."

"Of course," Xiao Zhen said, giving it to him. "Thank you for your business."

"No, thank you," he said, smiling as he headed towards the door, apparently already deep in thought composing love poems to be written in azure. Scholar Yuan looked after him with an expression of fond bemusement, and was apparently about to follow when Xiao Zhen called out.

"Sir - Scholar Yuan - " The man turned around, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, miss?" He said, coming toward her.

"You are Scholar Chang's friend, aren't you?" His eyebrows went up even further.

"Yes, I am," he said slowly.

"Good," Xiao Zhen said, going over to the shelf of ink sticks again and fetching three black sticks. She turned and thrust them toward Scholar Yuan. "I know it's a lot of trouble to ask, but when you see that Scholar Chang's black ink stick is getting shorter, do you think you could switch it out for a new one when he isn't looking? If you do that with these three, plus the one he bought, that should last a long time, right?"

Scholar Yuan blinked a few times, then slowly reached out to take the ink. "Yes, it should." He looked at the three ink sticks for a moment, then back up at Xiao Zhen. "So how much does the azure ink really cost?"

Xiao Zhen chewed her lip. "Four cash," she admitted. "But he's getting four black ink sticks for the price of one, even if he doesn't know it! So it's a fair deal, and he better use them all up studying, if he wants to do well on the exams. My uncle won't let Yi Ling marry anybody who isn't important or wealthy, so he needs to work harder."

Scholar Yuan stared at her for a moment longer, then grinned suddenly. "He has been a little distracted lately, hasn't he?" he said, pocketing the sticks. "You usually work as a server at the tea house, don't you? And - Miss Lu is your cousin?"

"Yes, she is," Xiao Zhen said, then paused. "Well, not my first cousin, but we do share blood," she said, looking down. She could feel Scholar Yuan studying her.

"Your uncle is quite wealthy," he observed. "Did your family send you to live with him?"

"My family is all dead," she said, her voice low. "They died this past spring of _shao bing_ \- the Burning Sickness." It was a long and wasting illness; at first nothing more than sporadic sneezing, then weakness, then a day or two of chills - and then the fever set in. It started low, then built like a rising flame. If the fever broke by the end of the first week, then the patient almost always made a full recovery. But her mother, her father, her little brother - the fever had risen and risen, and no matter how many cool clothes she laid on their foreheads or how many herbal concoctions from the local healer she poured between their cracked lips, the heat had continued to consume them for weeks and weeks until there was nothing left of them at all.

"节哀顺变," Scholar Yuan said quietly. Xiao Zhen looked up to see his face softened in sympathy. She tried to smile, although the expression felt like it was cracking the edges of her face. She had had the past few months to learn to conserve her sorrow and to adapt to the changes in her life, but there were still moments when grief pierced her like a sword through the gut.

"Uncle Lu isn't really my uncle," she said. "But my mother was his second cousin, so I asked the village scribe to write him a letter to ask for money for the funerary rites. Uncle Lu was very kind, he sent a servant with the cash and also to take me to Chang'an to live with him and his family." Xiao Zhen hadn't really thought that a distant relative that she'd never met would actually respond, but she'd been desperate. The small plot of land her family had farmed had reverted back to the care of the magistrate, and there had been nothing worth selling that would have fetched enough money; they had always lived very simple lives.

So when her uncle's servant had appeared at the village, Xiao Zhen's first instinct had been to be suspicious, but in the end she had been too weary with sorrow to worry about it. And then when she'd arrived in the capital, her uncle and her aunt had welcomed her with open arms - and Yi Ling had taken one look at her and immediately embraced her, disregarding Xiao Zhen's coarse appearance and dusty clothes.

"Does your uncle treat you well? Your cousin appears as pampered as any gentlewoman, and yet here you are working in your uncle's shops," Scholar Yuan observed, eyes narrowed.

"No, no, my uncle treats me very well," Xiao Zhen protested. "It's because Yi Ling _is_ a gentlewoman, she's been learning music and embroidery and poetry since she was a child, but I told Uncle it wasn't worth it to waste the money on trying to teach me anything - I'm only a simple farm girl, really. I'm very lucky that they've been so kind to me, and Yi Ling treats me like her own sister."

In fact, Yi Ling had wheedled Xiao Zhen into going with her to one of her tea ceremony lessons, but afterward Xiao Zhen had gone to her uncle and said she wasn't going any more, the only part about pouring technique she cared about was where the liquid ended up in the cup so it could eventually end up in her stomach. Her uncle had laughed and said it sounded like she was more suited to working as a server in his tea house. He'd said it in jest, but Xiao Zhen had liked the idea from the start; she liked the idea of being useful, and working had helped take her mind off of mourning.

Scholar Yuan looked at her for a moment longer. "Well, then your cousin must realize how lucky she is to have you, too." He smiled crookedly. "I'll make sure that Scholar Chang gets his money's worth out of his ink sticks, even if he doesn't know it." He bowed, then left the shop, Xiao Zhen watching him go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. English translation by Xu Yuanzhang of Li Bai's famous poem 靜夜思, taken from http://www.chinapage.com/libai014.html


	2. Chapter 2

But Xiao Zhen shortly forgot to worry about whether Scholar Chang had resumed his previous diligence - because a few days later, Yi Ling developed chills, and then became ill with fever.

"I'm sure it's nothing, Xiao Zhen, don't worry," Aunt Lu said to her, but Xiao Zhen could see how worried her eyes were. When the fever continued to rise, slowly, they sent for a healer on the evening of the second day. When Xiao Zhen saw the expression on her Aunt's face when she came out of Yi Ling's room, she didn't wait to hear what the healer had said - she knew.

Xiao Zhen ran out of the room, out of the house. She ran and ran along the roads and alleyways until she felt she couldn't run anymore. Finally, she stopped, bent over panting, hand against the wall. After she'd managed to catch her breath, she looked up to see where she was; the red pillars of the Temple of Nine Radiances rose up before her. Xiao Zhen stared at the statue smiling sightlessly down at her, its benevolent gaze planting the seed of a desperate idea in her mind.

A week and a day later, Xiao Zhen gently withdrew her hand from her cousin's limp, fevered one. Yi Ling was still coherent, but she tired easily, and after a few minutes of conversation she'd drifted off. Xiao Zhen slipped out of the room and went to find her Aunt.

"Aunt Lu," she said, squaring her shoulders. "I wanted to tell you that I'm going to go and find a cure for Yi Ling, so I'll be away for a while."

Her aunt smiled at her wanly, setting aside her embroidery. "I'm glad you want to help, but your uncle and I have the best healers we can find coming to treat her," she said, although her attempt to sound reassuring felt flat.

Xiao Zhen knelt by her aunt's chair. "Aunt," she said. "I couldn't do this for my family, because I was the only one who didn't get sick and I had to stay and nurse them," she said. "But you and Uncle will take better care of Yi Ling than I ever could, and I know I'm not as learned or wise as the healers you're paying, so I'm not going to do her any good staying here."

Her aunt's brow furrowed. "Xiao Zhen, what are you planning on doing?"

Xiao Zhen raised her chin. "I'm going to travel to Mount Kunlun to the garden of the Queen Mother of the West, and I'm going to get a Peach of Immortality and bring it back for Yi Ling," she said defiantly.

Aunt Lu's jaw dropped a little, and then she recovered. "Xiao Zhen, you - "

"I am," Xiao Zhen snapped. "Why do we make sacrifices and build temples and offer prayers and burn incense to her - to any of the gods if they can't help us?" she said, her voice cracking. "There's nothing I can do for Yi Ling here, and I won't let what happened to my family happen to her."

Aunt Lu looked at her for a long moment. "Are you truly determined to do this, Ah Zhen?" Xiao Zhen swallowed and nodded firmly. Aunt Lu sighed. "Then let me give you some cash and clothes to take with you," she said.

An hour or so later, Xiao Zhen was kneeling in the kitchen of her uncle's tea house, stowing some food in the knapsack her aunt had given her; Aunt Lu had supplied the other necessities, but as far as edibles went the tea house had more appropriate supplies than the kitchen at her uncle's house. Xiao Zhen slung the bag over her shoulder and pushed her way out into the main dining room towards the exit.

"Miss! Xiao Zhen - " Scholar Yuan came up to her, then blinked in confusion. "Oh, excuse me," he said. "Are you traveling somewhere right now?"

Xiao Zhen nodded. "My cousin - " she swallowed. "My cousin is sick," she said. "I'm going to try and get something that can cure her."

"Wait, where are you going? What are you trying to get?"

Xiao Zhen bit her lip, but she wasn't very good at lying when she hadn't had time to plan on what she was going to say. "I'm going to Mount Kunlun. I'm going to get her a peach," she said. Surprise, then understanding, then worry crossed Scholar Yuan's face; Xiao Zhen looked down at her feet braced herself for mockery - how else would any sensible person react when they found out she planned to travel to the home of a goddess to get a fruit meant for gods and emperors? She was as hopeless as the Jing Wei Bird, trying to fill up the ocean by dropping sticks and stones into it.

"But how are you going to get there? Do you know the way?" Xiao Zhen looked up, surprised.

"No - thank you, I'll make sure to stop by the bookseller's to get a map," she said. "Sorry, I should be going," she said, trying to excuse herself.

"Surely you don't mean to travel by youself," Scholar Yuan said.

"Of course - who would go with me?" Xiao Zhen said, confused. Scholar Yuan looked like he was struggling with himself mightily.

"Aiya, I can't let a young girl like yourself go alone," he said. "So I guess I'll have to go with you, then."

Xiao Zhen blinked. "Um, sir - "

"I promise I'm trustworthy!" he said. "I even know the way, I'll be much more useful than if you only take a map."

"But - "

"Have I ever done anything to make you mistrust me?" he asked.

"No, but - "

"But what?" he asked irritably.

"But your studies, sir - if you travel with me, you'll miss your classes at the Academy, you won't be able to study for your exams." Xiao Zhen pointed out.

"Oh." Scholar Yuan looked taken aback. Then he waved dismissively. "It's no problem, I'm sure I'll be able to catch up once I get back," he said cockily.

Xiao Zhen squinted at him. "Does that include your ability to compose poetry?" she asked, hiding a grin.

"Aiya, am I going to have to endure insults from you the entire journey?"

* * *

But whatever Scholar Yuan's other faults, he did turn out to be a capable and confident guide. The road leading out of the city was well-maintained, and the terrain flat and easy to traverse, so for the first few days they managed to travel a good distance. It was a lovely, flourishing countryside; they passed by field upon field of healthy crops, and it wasn't difficult to find intermittent meadows with soft grass to set up camp. But then over the next few days after that, Xiao Zhen noticed the landscape becoming drier with each passing _li_ , the vegetation looking more and more withered every step they took.

"Is this region usually so dry?" Xiao Zhen asked, grass crackling underfoot. She took a step forward and almost tripped over something; a large stone, perhaps. But when she looked down, she saw a curious cobblestone pattern; she bent down and picked it up, and realized what she'd tripped over was a tortoise, head and limbs withdrawn into its shell. The animal poked its head out weakly, and Xiao Zhen could see that it looked unusually lethargic, even for an animal that was so slow normally.

"No," Scholar Yuan said, his expression troubled. "No, it's not. There must be a drought, but - " he hesitated. "There's something not right about this." He pulled out the map and studied it for a few moments. "Xiao Zhen, let's head towards the river that runs through this province; the route isn't as direct, but it will be safer and easier."

Xiao Zhen bit her lip; it was true that they were already running low on water, and they couldn't keep traveling like this if the entire region was afflicted with drought. "Very well." She tucked the tortoise carefully under her arm. "I guess our little friend can come along too, he'll be glad to see water again too."

Fortunately, the land alongside the river was still verdant, although only narrow strips lining the banks looked completely healthy. Xiao Zhen set the tortoise down in the grass next to a puddle, where it gratefully began to lap up the water.

"We should set up camp, it's getting late," Scholar Yuan said, already putting his knapsack down; it had taken them more than half a day to reach the river, and it was rapidly approaching dusk. Xiao Zhen sighed, but started helping him.

The next morning, Xiao Zhen woke with a start to find a little boy grinning down at her.

"Hi!" he said, grinning.

Xiao Zhen blinked; the child didn't seem to be a threat. "Hello," she said.

"Where are you from? You aren't from around here, are you going somewhere? Where are you going? Why are you going there? Do you want to play? There's lots of stuff to do on the river, it's fun, you should come play with me!" the little boy said excitedly.

"I - "

"Who's he? Is he your husband? Why isn't he awake yet? It's already late and there's so much fun stuff we could be doing!" The little boy bounded over and poked Scholar Yuan none-too-gently in the shoulder. The man came awake with a yelp, flailing around haphazardly; the boy fell over laughing, pointing at Scholar Yuan's haplessness. Scholar Yuan finally straightened himself out, glaring at the child.

"Who is this? What's going on?" he demanded.

"I don't know, a friend seems to have found us," Xiao Zhen said, grinning a little. The boy's irrepressible spirits reminded her a lot of her little brother; she pushed away the stab of grief. "What's your name, little friend?"

"I'm Jiang Di, but you can call me Ah Di," the boy said. "Who are you?"

After Xiao Zhen introduced herself and Scholar Yuan and explained the mission, the boy's face lit up. "But I can help you!" he said. "I know this entire river, I can travel with you and show you everything!" he said, skipping eagerly ahead.

"I think we're smart enough to know how to follow a river!" Scholar Yuan yelled at him, disgruntled. "Shouldn't he be with his family? Why aren't his parents handling the rascal, anyways?"

But when pressed with these questions, the boy refused to answer clearly. "Oh, my family lives along the river, we'll see them," he said vaguely. "Come on, there's a tree up ahead that's great for climbing, I'll race you to the top!"

He was peculiar, this laughing, gleeful boy; he did appear to know the river intimately, giving them advice on food and shelter, and he was certainly a cheerful traveling companion - until Scholar Yuan suggested constructing a fishing pole to try catching some carp for dinner.

"No!" Ah Di said, springing up, his face pale with horror. "Are you crazy?"

Scholar Yuan blinked at him. "No? But I do like to eat fish," he said, puzzled.

"Well, you can't," the boy snapped. "They're my friends too, don't be silly, you can't eat them," and with that, he stormed off in a sulk.

"Hm," Scholar Yuan said, looking after Ah Di's retreating form.

That night, the three of them were sitting around the campfire, the flame providing a warm golden glow against the silken dusk.

"Oh, look!" Scholar Yuan said, pointing up in the sky. "A shooting star, can you see it?"

"Where?" Ah Di said, clambering over to Scholar Yuan and looking up.

"Ha! Got you!" Scholar Yuan said, pouncing on the boy and forcing his boy's chin upward. "I knew there was something strange - Xiao Zhen, do you see it?" he said triumphantly, ignoring the boy's protests and struggles.

"Scholar Yuan, what are you doing? Let Ah Di go!" Xiao Zhen said, hurrying over.

"No, look right there and then I'll let him go," Scholar Yuan said, and when Xiao Zhen bent over she could, indeed, see something strange - something that looked like a gleaming pearl about the size of an orange seed embedded in the fleshy part of the boy's throat, beneath the bony part of his chin.

" _Hao le, hao le,_ " Xiao Zhen said hastily. "You can let him go now, I see it. But why are you so excited about it, Scholar Yuan?"

Scholar Yuan released Ah Di, looking surprised. The boy shot away, looking deeply resentful as he rubbed at his throat. "Don't you see? You know the story - every major river always has some sort of waterfall or natural dam called the Dragon Gate, and if a river carp manages to leap up over the Dragon Gate, it becomes transformed into a dragon king and takes over ruling that particular river and ensuring its health and that of the surrounding area. Well, the reason why this entire region has been suffering drought is because there's no dragon king to make it rain and end it; the previous dragon king for this river probably got promoted or something, or - maybe executed, although I hadn't heard about a dragon king execution," Scholar Yuan said, musing.

"Jiang Bei got promoted," Ah Di said sulkily. "Which is stupid, he's going to have even less fun in the Ministry of Thunder than he did as dragon king."

"Wait, what does this have to do with Ah Di?" Scholar Yuan raised his eyebrows at Xiao Zhen.

"Do you remember that dragons have luminous pearls embedded under their chins? Ah Di's is small because he's so young, but he's meant to be the next dragon king of this river. Such fish who are marked have special powers, including the ability to change into human form," he said. "Now, Ah Di here should have jumped the Dragon Gate long ago, I don't know why he hasn't yet," Scholar Yuan said pointedly.

"I don't want to! I won't be able to play at all and I'll have to work all the time and write reports and get ordered around all the time by the Jade Emperor," Ah Di said, scowling.

"But - "

"No! I'm not going to stick around and listen to you scold me," he said, slinking off and diving into the inky river directly.

"Ah Di," Xiao Zhen cried out, but Scholar Yuan put out a hand.

"He'll be fine, he's a fish, remember? He'll be back in the morning, don't worry."

Sure enough, the boy popped up the moment Xiao Zhen started cooking breakfast, as cheerful as ever. But after they'd finished eating, Xiao Zhen beckoned to him.

"Ah Di, come here," she said, holding out her hand. "Let's go for a walk."

Ah Di came along willingly enough, although he started becoming restless as Xiao Zhen led them further and further away from the river.

"Where are we going?" he asked her finally, fidgeting.

"Here," she said. "I wanted to show you what happens when there's drought for a long time," she said, gesturing at the arid land before them. "I know the banks of the river are still healthy, but you can see what happens if there's no rain. It's autumn right now, it's supposed to be the middle of harvest, but you can see everything's dried up. Drought is terrible, Ah Di - when I lived in the countryside and worked on my family's farm, what we feared most was drought. No water means no life, you understand?" She looked down at Ah Di, who was staring silently at the fallow fields before him, yellow dust covering them in a low cloud. "Maybe it won't be fun to be dragon king, but don't you want to change this? You can change it, if you become what you're supposed to."

The boy grimaced. "But I don't _waaant_ to," he whined. After a moment he brightened. "Besides, this means that everybody and everything comes to the river," he said. "You and Scholar Yuan wouldn't ever have come to visit me if you didn't have to," he said, looking up at her artlessly. "Now let's go back!"

"Ah Di - " but it was too late, the boy had scampered off.

Scholar Yuan looked at Xiao Zhen's expression when she returned to camp. "Didn't manage to convince him, hm?" he asked. "Well, I have another idea; if I remember correctly, there's a large town a few _li_ from here, we need to stock up again on supplies again anyways."

But the town that they came across wasn't large at all; most of the buildings looked to be deserted, and when the three of them walked into the nearby market there were only a few lone stalls open.

"Ma'am, this town used be much busier, didn't it?" Scholar Yuan asked one of the vendors after they'd made their purchases.

"Yes, but after the drought started, people began moving away, and now only a few of us are still staying. There's still some traffic down the river, but even that is much less than it used to be," the woman said, shaking her head.

"Have you all tried prayers and sacrifices to the rain gods?"

"We've tried everything," the woman said. "But nothing's worked, the rain never comes."

"Hm..." Scholar Yuan hums meaningfully, Ah Di squirming more than ever. "Would you be able to direct us to the main temple here?"

"Where are we going? To the temple? Why are we going there?" Xiao Zhen asked, tightening her grip of Ah Di's hand as the two of them followed behind Scholar Yuan.

"One of the common methods to try and summon the rain gods is to paint murals or pictures of them and to offer sacrifices to their images, in hopes that they will be appeased and send rain," Scholar Yuan said, striding into the temple. "And one of the gods that they would have tried to appease would most likely be a neighboring dragon king, so - " he made a please sound and gestured before him; sure enough, the few shafts of dust-saturated sunlight showed dimly a mural of ferocious, cobalt-tinted dragons twining around each other. Scholar Yuan began fishing around in the pockets of his robes, and after a moment withdrew an ink stick with a noise of triumph.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Xiao Zhen asked. "And are those the ink sticks that are supposed to go to Scholar Chang?" she added suspiciously.

"Er - well, he hadn't used up his first one very much yet!" Scholar Yuan said, looking guilty as he rubbed the stick against the rough ground and spit on the black powder. "And - well, have you ever noticed that whenever people paint dragons, they never finish the entire picture? The eyes are always left unpainted; it's said that painting the eyes in will summon the dragon, and the dragon itself will burst from the wall."

"Um, but - " Xiao Zhen said hesitantly. "You want to summon a dragon in _here_ \- " but it was too late, Scholar Yuan was just finishing the last stroke. With a burst of noise and rubble, a long sinuous form exploded forth, raining dirt down on all of them.

"Aw, why'd you have to go and summon him?" Ah Di demanded petulantly. "Ying Luo was never any fun, he never wanted to go out and play or anything!"

"Because I thought getting another dragon king to talk to you might knock some sense into you!" Scholar Yuan retorted.

"Quite right," the dragon boomed, shaking its great mane out and bringing its horned face intimidatingly close to the trio. "And you shouldn't call me Ying Luo anymore; that might have been appropriate when we were children, but now you should address me as Ying _wang_ , since I've already leaped the Dragon Gate and ascended to my rightful position," he said, preening.

Ah Di snorted contemptuously. " _Wang ba dan_ , is more like it," he muttered.

The dragon king roared dangerously, and Scholar Yuan hastily put in an interceding arm. "Ying _jiang wang,_ why don't you tell Ah Di about what you do as a dragon king," he prompted.

"Well, I'm responsible for the well-being of the _Liangsheng_ river," he said, self-importantly. "I have to keep track of how much rain falls on it each day, and make sure that the same amount of water flows out at the end. I have to account for each and every drop, because if any water goes missing, there could be very serious consequences," he said, dropping his voice to indicate his seriousness.

Ah Di raised his eyebrows, unimpressed. "Hm. And I guess you have to write reports and balance accounts and do all sorts of paperwork, right?"

The dragon puffed itself up. "Of course! It's the most important part of my job! Other than reporting to the Jade Emperor himself on the state of my river!"

Ah Di yawned exaggeratedly. "And I'm sure you have to get all dressed up in stiff robes and jewelry and lots of stupid clothes and everything for that - aiya, 那麼無聊!" Ah Di scowled at the dragon king. "Well, I heard that all the other gods that serve the Jade Emperor think that all the dragon kings are rude and uncultured, since they smell like fish all the time," he said nastily.

The dragon recoiled with a gasp. "I do _not_ smell like fish!" he said, affronted.

"Yes you do, see?" Ah Di's arm flashed forward and he withdrew a shining fish scale in his hand, apparently from the dragon's neatly combed beard. "Missed this one when you were grooming," he said wickedly.

The dragon drew himself up, dignity obviously wounded. "I'm not going to spend another moment wasting my time here, I have _much_ more important things to do," he said stiffly. "You, Jiang Di, are impossible! You aren't fit to become a dragon king!" And with that, he smashed through the nearest wall and streamed fluidly out into the sky.

Xiao Zhen sighed. "Ah Di, was that really necessary?" she asked; she had caught the boy's sleight of hand in making the fish scale appear from his sleeve.

"Aw, he deserves it, he was always an arrogant snob anyways," Ah Di said, already turning away to hop down the steps of the temple. "I don't know why they all get so sensitive about smelling fishy once they become dragons - we are fish! We started as fish! We'll always be fish!" he yelled, his voice fading in the distance.

Xiao Zhen looked over at Scholar Yuan. "Are you really sure you want to take the Imperial Examinations? I thought they were for people who are, you know, wise."

"Hey!"

* * *

Over the next few days, Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan alternately tried to cajole, coax, berate Ah Di into agreeing to jump the Dragon Gate, but the boy simply disappeared every time either of them brought the subject up.

"We're approaching the end of the river," Scholar Yuan said to Xiao Zhen one evening as they set up camp. "The river ends in the Dragon Gate waterfall, which falls into _Juhua_ lake. After that, we'll be leaving this region entirely. If we don't managed to convince Ah Di by then..."

"Don't worry," Xiao Zhen murmured. "I have an idea."

By mid-afternoon the next day, the three of them reached the waterfall; it was breathtaking, crystalline spray exploding upwards from the rocks beneath the pounding cascade of water that descended over a sheer cliff. The lake spread out before them like a sheet of glass, as calm and honest as a clear mirror. For a few moments, the trio stood there in silence, taking in the beauty of the scenery.

Finally, Ah Di sighed quietly. "So I guess you two have to go now," he said sadly.

Xiao Zhen made a noise of agreement. "Yes, and I'm glad that I'll finally be able to leave this horrible area," she said. "It's been absolutely terrible having to travel here, such a blighted and cursed land."

Scholar Yuan looked at her in confusion, but it was nothing compared to Ah Di's horrified reaction. "You don't mean that!" he cried. "I have the best river anywhere, the most beautiful!"

"Hm, I guess the river is all right, maybe," Xiao Zhen said dubiously. "But I can see why it was the Will of Heaven to give a little boy like you responsibility for this region, they knew you wouldn't be able to take care of it so they gave you the dreariest and unhealthiest piece of land they could."

"No it's not! It's not, the entire province is beautiful, it's my home!" Ah Di protested, tears standing out in his eyes.

Xiao Zhen made a contemptuous noise. "Silly child, have you not seen how dry and dusty all the land is? How dead it is? Nothing and nobody wants to live there anymore, and rightfully so."

"That's just because there hasn't been rain in a while, and I - I'll make sure that everywhere gets rain, I will! I'll take the best care anybody could imagine, you just wait and see, it'll be the healthiest land in all of China!"

"Well, you can only do that as dragon king," Xiao Zhen pointed out. "You know, you've told us again and again that you haven't leaped the Dragon Gate because you don't want to, but you know what? I think it's because you can't, and you're too ashamed and afraid to admit it," she said, looking down at the boy.

"That's a lie! You watch - I'm going to jump over it right now and then I'm going to bring rain again, you'll see!" Ah Di said, and then the boy was off like a flash, a running dive over the side of the cliff into the water, his slight form transforming in the mist into that of a enormous, shimmering scarlet carp.

"That was cruel," Scholar Yuan said, looking over at Xiao Zhen. "But effective."

Xiao Zhen smiled wryly, looking down into the mist of the waterfall; he should be all right, the impossible rascal. "It's a technique I used on my little brother," she said. "The only way to get him to do anything was to tell him he couldn't do it, and then he'd get so mad that he'd do anything to prove me wrong." She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Look, there he is!" she said, pointing.

And there was Ah Di, a great, surging bolt of scarlet leaping upwards with inspired fury. Once, twice, three times - but each time falling short, each time falling back down.

"I don't know whether he'll be able to make it," Scholar Yuan said, worriedly. And then, as if to prove Scholar Yuan specifically wrong - Ah Di burst forth once again, high enough that he soared over Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan in a majestic arc - and the moment he cleared the threshold of the fall, his great scarlet body transformed into the characteristic sinuous turquoise banner across the sky, as beautiful and terrifying as anything in Heaven or below it.

And then, in the next instant, a torrential and drenching rain began to fall, streamers of water crashing down from the sky with great enthusiasm.

"Really?" Scholar Yuan yelled upwards. He turned toward Xiao Zhen, thoroughly disgruntled. "Why in Heaven's name couldn't you have waited until we were on the other side of the lake to talk to him?!"

 


	3. Chapter 3

Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan left the _Yuexing_ river and _Juhua_ lake behind after wringing out their clothes as best they could, Scholar Yuan grumbling the entire time; but the exertion of traveling soon caused all their belongings to dry.

The countryside changed; instead of flat farmland, the land scenery became hillier, more heavily wooded. At first, it appeared that they were making good progress, Scholar Yuan pointing out each area they were passing on his map. But his explanations of where they were became vaguer and vaguer, until one morning Xiao Zhen looked up at him, squinting as he hemmed and hawed over the scroll.

"You don't know where we are, do you?" she asked.

"Well - I know where we are _generally_ ," he said, holding the paper up and turning it this way and that.

Xiao Zhen shook her head. "Come on, we don't have time to waste; we're asking for directions at the next town."

But where they ended up asking for directions was not a town, but an elegant mansion sitting in isolation against the blazing scarlets and golds of the trees set alight by autumn.

"We don't know the next time we'll be able to find someone to ask," Xiao Zhen said, walking towards the front door. "Come on."

"But - " Scholar Yuan was denied any further chance to protest.

"Yes?" A servant said, peering at them both curiously.

"My name is Xiao Zhen, and this is Scholar Yuan," Xiao Zhen said. "We were traveling through the area, and we were wondering if we could get some directions."

The servant hesitated. "Let me fetch my master," he said.

The master of the house turned out to be Lord Feng, a middle-aged man with kind eyes, but there seemed to be a deep sadness lurking about him.

"Please, come in and rest," he said, urging them to sit down. "Have some tea and refreshment, it appears you two have traveled a very long distance."

Lord Feng listened attentively to their story, then shook his head. "Well, you have wandered a little off course, but not too badly," he said. "We can consult one of my more detailed maps from the library, I believe it will be useful."

Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan both bowed their heads in gratitude. Then Xiao Zhen said, "My lord, I couldn't help but notice the silk painting you have over there," she said, gesturing to the artwork in the corner. There was a splendid painting of a beautiful woman on a silk screen, the image nearly life-size and very striking in both the color and delicacy of the rendering; the woman's form was undoubtedly lovely, but strangely enough her face was turned away. There was somehow the sense that she was overcome with sorrow. At the foot of the silk screen, there were plates of the finest porcelain laid out, piled high with bright fruit and flowers, half-burnt sticks of incense arranged carefully around them.

"Ah," Lord Feng said. "That is my wife," he said, and the sadness was even more pronounced.

"Your wife?" Scholar Yuan said, looking over. "That's curious, that the artist chose to draw a portrait of her in such a pose, isn't it?"

"No, you misunderstand me," Lord Feng said. "That woman in the screen _is_ my wife."

"Sir?" Scholar Yuan said, looking back at Lord Feng and raising his eyebrows.

Lord Feng sighed, looking down at the cup of tea in his hands for a moment. "When I was a young man, I was at a market in Luoyang when that painting you see there caught my eye, although at the time she was not posed as you see now; she was looking upward to pluck a peony blossom from a branch. I remarked to the vendor that I had never seen such a beautiful woman, and that I would give anything to have her as my wife. The vendor replied, 'But you can, sir. The woman's name is Zhanzhan, and all you need to do is call her name a hundred times every night at moonrise for a hundred nights in a row, and she will emerge from the painting.' I laughed, thinking that he was joking, and walked away.

But I couldn't forget the painting no matter how hard I tried, and so at the end of the day I went back to the vendor and bought it. I went home and set the painting up in my bedroom, and that night - even though I thought it was a trick, I was so in love with the lady in the picture that I called out her name a hundred times at moonrise, and repeated the process for the next 99 nights. And then, on the hundredth night, she stepped out of the picture.

'Mister Feng,' she said, 'Since you have been calling me here so faithfully, I will agree to marry you on one condition; that you never watch or look at me when I undress to bathe.'

Delirious with happiness, I agreed immediately. We were married the next day."

Lord Feng stopped for a moment, looking away.

"We were very happy together for many years," he said, his voice noticeably rougher. "I prospered, earning high marks on the Imperial Examinations - "

"See, you could have a house like this if you were better at poetry!" Xiao Zhen hissed at Scholar Yuan.

"Aiya, be polite and listen!" Scholar Yuan hissed back.

"And became the magistrate for this county." Lord Feng continued. "Lady Zhan bore me two children, a son and a daughter, and through all that time I never did see her undress when she went to bathe. But then six months ago, an old friend from Luoyang came to visit me; he knew the story behind my wife, and on this visit he began pestering me with questions.

'Have you really obeyed her wishes in this matter?' he asked. 'It must mean that she is a demon, plotting to kill you. Perhaps she waited until you were wealthy enough to be worth killing!'

I did not really believe that my wife was a demon, but my friend had so aroused my curiosity that a week later, I decided to hide behind a screen in my wife's rooms to see why she should be so afraid to let me see her undress when she bathed. I waited until I had heard her undress, then looked around the screen - and I saw a nine-tailed fox in the middle of the room.

I must have made some sort of sound, because she looked toward me and in an instant changed back to her human form.

'Why have you done this?' she cried out, weeping. 'Yes, I am a _huli jing_ , but I have always done my best to be a faithful wife to you. But now that you are suspicious of me and have seen me as a fox, I cannot stay anymore.'

And then she fled to the original silk screen that she had stepped out of so many years ago, and stepped back in it before I could do anything to stop her. That is why her back is turned in the picture, and that is why she is crying."

Lord Feng fell silent, apparently brooding.

"And the fruit? The incense?" Xiao Zhen asked hesitantly. Lord Feng looked up.

"I know it is sentimental of me, but those are her favorite fruits and flowers, her prized porcelain, the incense that pleased her most. I thought - I thought it might help tempt her to come back out again." Lord Feng smiled sadly. "But enough of my troubles - come, let us go to the library to consult my maps."

* * *

By the time Lord Feng had finished showing Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan his maps and giving them advice on their journey, darkness had already fallen.

"Oh, but you must stay here tonight," he insisted. "Please, do not insult my hospitality by saying you would prefer to sleep on the ground outdoors in the cold."

So that night, Xiao Zhen lay on her bedroll set out on the floor of one of the guest rooms.

"Lord Feng's story is very sad," she said, staring at the ceiling.

"Yes," Scholar Yuan said drowsily, already half-asleep and buried cozily under his own bedsheets. "But what can be done?"

This was the question that Xiao Zhen turned over and over in her mind, until she too drifted off into sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Lord Feng invited them to eat breakfast with him in the garden at the back of the house.

"You can see the last of the chrysanthemums, before winter arrives. My wife loved working in the gardens, she would spend hours and hours there - and chrysanthemums were always her favorite flower, she planted hundreds of them," he said, looking wistfully at the rust-colored blossoms. "Aiya, Ah Jun, Mei Yang, you two are going to get all dirty, and at the beginning of the day!" he said, running over to scoop two small children away from the flowerbeds. "Where is your amah?"

"Were those your children?" Xiao Zhen asked, once the two little ones were sent off with their contrite nurse.

"Yes," Lord Feng said. "It - it was very difficult for them, at first. There are still nights where they won't stop crying," he said.

At that, Xiao Zhen came to a swift and resolute decision.

"Lord Feng, this may be impertinent, but I believe I have a solution to your problems," she said, squaring her shoulders.

"Yes?"

"Marry me," Xiao Zhen said. "I would be honored to be your wife, Lord Feng."

" _What?_ " squawked Scholar Yuan.

* * *

That afternoon, Xiao Zhen walked with her arm through Lord Feng's into the main room of Lord Feng's mansion, the silk screen painting still sitting as before in the corner.

"Oh, my lord, I am so happy to be your bride," she simpered behind the red handkerchief veiling her face, the traditional symbol of matrimony.

"And I am glad to be married to you too, my dear," Lord Feng said awkwardly. "I was - so overcome by your beauty and my children's affection for you that I couldn't bear to let you get away." He coughed. "Now, let me ensure that the wedding feast is being prepared to my specifications, and that your rooms are all in readiness for you." With that, he left the room.

The moment he was out of the room, Xiao Zhen yawned loudly and belched. She threw off the handkerchief, rubbing her hands all over her face so her crudely applied makeup smeared even more disastrously. "Well, Lord Feng is truly a gullible old fool," she said loudly. "Still mourning his stupid fox wife! Well, at least he has this mansion, I always knew I'd manage to marry a wealthy husband," she said, wandering over carelessly to the silk screen. "Perhaps I can send his children off to some other estate or relatives, that way I won't have to put up with the little fools."

She paused, looking slantwise at the silk screen. All was still; no response. Apparently she was going to have to keep going.

"And I'll have to tear up all those ugly chrysanthemums, what hideous flowers," she continued. "I'll have the servants replant those beds with winter melons and turnips, much more useful," she said, bending over to pick up an apple and taking a big bite out of it. "Ugh, how sour!" she said, spitting the apple out and grinding it into the floor under her heel. "And what terrible porcelain, these plates aren't fit to be seen!" she said, picking up one of the plates and tossing it contemptuously over her shoulder.

A sudden flash of silver from the screen, and in a moment an extremely angry but extremely beautiful woman was at Xiao Zhen's side, one hand holding the plate caught out of mid-air and the other in a punishing grip around Xiao Zhen's wrist.

"This," she said, seething, "is priceless _Jian_ porcelain, I had that imported directly from Fujian."

"Yes, your husband told us so," Xiao Zhen said.

"And I hate winter melons and turnips, I find them _disgusting,_ " Lady Zhan continued on furiously, heedless.

"The soil's all wrong here to plant them, anyways," Xiao Zhen mused.

"And neither you nor anybody else is _ever_ going to send my children away from here," Lady Zhan said, incandescent with rage.

"But you were willing to leave them yourself?" Xiao Zhen asked pointedly.

Lady Zhan finally seemed to actually hear Xiao Zhen, and at that moment she wilted.

"Sit down, Lady Zhan," Xiao Zhen said, sitting down herself. "Why have you been so unwilling to come back to your family? I have only known them for less than a day, but even I can see that they desperately miss you."

Lady Zhan sank downwards gracefully. "My husband broke his solemn promise to me," she said, her face set.

"That is true, but for what it's worth, I believe he is truly sorry for it," Xiao Zhen said gently. "And you yourself are breaking an even more sacred promise, my lady, are you not?"

"Am I? What promise am I breaking?" Lady Zhan asked sharply.

"The promise that every mother makes to her children when she brings them into the world," Xiao Zhen said. "To nurture them and protect them. To be there for them for as long as she possibly can, as long as she has a drop of life in her body. My mother kept that promise to me even to her final breath; the last words she ever spoke to me while she lay dying of fever were to remind me to bundle up warmly at night, because it was still cold even though spring was approaching."

Lady Zhan looked away, ashamed, and in that moment Xiao Zhen got up and slid one of the adjoining doors open. "Ah Jun, Mei Yang, come here!" she called out. "Your mother's come home!"

The two children scrambled into the room in an instant and tackled Lady Zhan, who now had tears streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks. A few moments later, Lord Feng appeared at the door, hesitation written clearly across his face.

"Zhanzhan," he breathed. " _Baobei_ ," he said.

After a long moment, her arms wrapped tight around each of her children, Lady Zhan cried out, "Oh, my beloved," she said, sobbing. " _Qing Ai De_ ," she said, reaching out for him.

With one last look, Xiao Zhen slipped out of the room. Scholar Yuan waiting for her.

After a moment, he said, gentle: "Do you still miss your mother?"

Xiao Zhen looked down. "All the time," she said, drawing in a ragged breath.

Scholar Yuan was mercifully silent while Xiao Zhen regained control of herself. Then - "Aiya, what is this makeup you're wearing?" he demanded briskly. "You have rouge and paint smeared all over the place, you look even more terrible than usual!"

"Hey, it was on purpose!" Xiao Zhen said, relieved at his unspoken kindness. "And what do you mean, even more terrible than usual?"

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan tried to leave Lady Zhan and her family to enjoy their joyful reunion, but they hadn't gone more than a hundred paces from the house before Lady Zhan herself caught up to them.

"I wish to show my gratitude with this poor gift - no, please, I insist," Lady Zhan said, dismounting from her horse to give Xiao Zhen a pack full of food and other supplies. "And also to give you Jade Rabbit to help speed you on your way," she said, trying to hand the reins of her horse to Xiao Zhen.

Xiao Zhen instinctively backed away. "Oh, no, we couldn't," she said instinctively. Even to Xiao Zhen's unexperienced eye, it was clear that the horse was a valuable one, fiery and sleek.

"My husband explained to me your destination, and you'll never reach Mount Kunlun in time unless you take him," Lady Zhan said, finally giving the reins to Scholar Yuan when Xiao Zhen continued to resist. She hesitated for a moment. "Jade Rabbit is - capable beyond a normal horse," she said. "He's swifter than the wind, and as surefooted as a goat. Please, accept my offering for the sake of your cousin, if not yourself." She bent in towards Xiao Zhen. "And I told Jade Rabbit where the two of you want to go, so he won't get lost even if your companion does, again," she murmured in Xiao Zhen's ear.

Xiao Zhen finally grinned at that. "Very well, then, Lady Zhan. Thank you for your generosity," she said, bowing. Lady Zhan bowed in return, then turned to go back to her home.

"What was she saying to you?" Scholar Yuan demanded. "Was she making fun of me?"

"Are all horses this tall?" Xiao Zhen said, staring up at the animal. She'd seen them before, of course - but never this close, only the wealthiest of nobles could afford to own riding horses.

Scholar Yuan looked at her suddenly, grinning. "You don't know how to ride, do you?" he said, smugly.

Xiao Zhen turned to glare at him. "If you must know what Lady Zhan was saying to me, she was telling me that Jade Rabbit has a better sense of direction than you do!"

* * *

It took Xiao Zhen a few minutes to work up the courage to clamber up on Jade Rabbit's back, but once she was on and Scholar Yuan mounted up behind her, it soon became very clear that Lady Zhan had not been speaking in jest when she said that Jade Rabbit was swifter than the wind. Xiao Zhen could feel the wind whistling past her as Jade Rabbit went from a trot to a canter, and then once the horse surged into a full gallop it did indeed feel as if they were outracing the wind, the scenery rushing by in a wild blur.

When they finally slowed all the way back down to a walk, Jade Rabbit's withers wet with lather, Xiao Zhen was astonished to see that the landscape had changed entirely. Whereas Lord Feng's mansion had been set in a clearing among forested, gentle hills, they had now entered the beginning slopes of a mountain range, rocky crags covered with snow all around them eve as majestic peaks soared before them, so high that their summits were obscured by mist.

"Impossible," Xiao Zhen breathed, sliding off of Jade Rabbit's back with suddenly shaky legs. "Even I know horses aren't supposed to be able to do this."

"Yes," Scholar Yuan said, his face thoughtful. "But apparently it is the Will of Heaven to speed us on our way. However," he said, dismounting, "even a horse as superb as Jade Rabbit needs a rest after a run like that. Come, we need to walk for a little while in order to let him cool down."

Eventually, after much consultation of the maps Lady Zhan had included in her pack, Scholar Yuan pointed towards what he declared was Mount Kunlun, since that would be the highest peak in the entire mountain range. Xiao Zhen eyed him skeptically and decided to let Jade Rabbit have his head. The fact that Jade Rabbit carried them toward the general direction Scholar Yuan pointed to was both reassuring and fortunate, since Xiao Zhen would not have liked to mediate an argument between a horse and a scholar; especially since Jade Rabbit appeared to be a distinctly stubborn horse.

Xiao Zhen was clinging determinedly to Jade Rabbit's neck (Scholar Yuan in turn clinging to Xiao Zhen, his arms wrapped around her stomach) as the horse scrambled upwards, when there came an ominous creaking noise from above. Xiao Zhen looked up to see an enormous boulder hurtling towards them - but before she could do anything, a bolt of quicksilver hit her like a hammer from side, knocking all of them - man, woman and horse - to safety on a nearby snowbank.

Xiao Zhen lay therefore a moment, trying to catch her breath; after she'd managed to, a little, she forced herself to sit up and scramble over to Scholar Yuan.

"Scholar Yuan, are you all right? Scholar Yuan?" she asked desperately, frantically brushing away the snow. Scholar Yuan lay there unconscious, although he was breathing without apparent difficulty.

"He's perfectly fine," a voice said, and Xiao Zhen looked over her shoulder to see their apparent rescuer standing there - a luminous woman, garbed in white fluttering robes so bright that even the snow around her appeared dim.

"Who are you?" Xiao Zhen asked, panting.

"My name is Bai Xing," the woman said serenely. "I am an immortal who lives in these mountains; come, let me take you to my cavern." And with that, she snapped the streamers of her silken sleeves forward to wrap securely around Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan's waists, then levitated herself and both of them up the mountainside with no apparent difficulty.

Bai Xing took them to a deep cavern tunneling into the side of the mountain, far enough inward that the cold did not reach. Xiao Zhen watched as the woman snapped her fingers and a fire sprang up in a small pit, burning silently without fuel and giving off no smoke.

"Now, why don't you tell me why you are traveling in such inhospitable country?" Bai Xing asked, sitting down in front of Xiao Zhen.

After digging through one of their packs and covering Scholar Yuan with a blanket, Xiao Zhen told Bai Xing the story of their journey. The woman listened attentively, and then at the end said, "Oh, but I can give you the cure for the Burning Sickness - or at least, I can teach you how to make it."

Xiao Zhen blinked in surprise, then hesitated; she knew that immortals were themselves impervious to illness, but the ability to create cures was much more uncommon.

"Well, think about it," Bai Xing said, getting up. "I shall let you rest," she said, and withdrew. Xiao Zhen watched her go, trying to understand why she felt uncomfortable about the woman.

When Scholar Yuan finally awoke, Xiao Zhen explained what had happened, and mentioned her uneasiness.

"Hm," he said. "Well, we'll see."

"And what about Jade Rabbit?" Xiao Zhen asked anxiously. "Do you think he'll be all right?"

"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine," Scholar Yuan said. "Better than us, even, until we find out who Bai Xing is."

Bai Xing came back around when Xiao Zhen was trying to warm some of the food from their packs over the lukewarm, smokeless flame.

"Ah, allow me," the woman said, snapping her fingers yet again - and the flame transformed with a loud crackling into a more normal-smelling and normal-sounding fire.

"Thank you," Xiao Zhen said dutifully.

"Of course," Bai Xing said, inclining her head. "Have you decided whether you would like to learn how to prepare the cure for the Burning Sickness? You would have to become my disciple; it would require a pure heart and an iron will, and many years of dedication. If you agree, I will make the cure and send it to your cousin myself, as soon as you say yes."

Xiao Zhen chewed her lip; oh, she ought to say yes, she ought to say yes. "I - " she swallowed. "It is very kind of you, but I will think about it a little more," she said carefully; she somehow had the feeling that it would not do refuse Bai Xing directly.

"Hm." Bai Xing looked at her for a moment, then floated away.

"See?" Xiao Zhen demanded, looking at Scholar Yuan, who had been silent the entire time. "She's very strange, isn't she?" Xiao Zhen paused.

"Yes, she is," Scholar Yuan said, looking toward the far end of the cavern where she'd disappeared. "And she's no immortal, I can tell you that."

"What? But she can fly, and start fires with her hands, and she's not affected by the cold," Xiao Zhen said.

"Oh, she has some power, it's true - but anybody who studies hard and has some talent can pick up a few tricks here and there. But if you're a real immortal, you can always tell - er, ah, ahem," Scholar Yuan coughed. "I mean, there are ways that other people can tell if you really are an immortal," he said.

"So, she's managing to survive up here and everything even though she hasn't achieved immortality?"

"There must be some other source of power, of magic that she's tapping into," Scholar Yuan said thoughtfully. "But I don't know what it could be."

"Should - should I have said yes to her?" Xiao Zhen asked hesitantly.

"No, I don't think she would have been able to prepare the cure for the Burning Sickness, that's a very difficult task, not one that she would be able to manage," Scholar Yuan said. "But how she's able to do what she does now - that is a mystery, in any case."

* * *

But Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan discovered the heart of Bai Xing's power the next morning, because Bai Xing herself led them straight to it.

"Come," Bai Xing said, gliding up to Xiao Zhen as Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan ate their breakfast. "I am going to show you something."

Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan followed Bai Xing deeper and deeper into the cavern, running at times to keep her fluttering white shape in sight. Finally, after what felt like hours of scrambling to keep up, they found her waiting for them at what looked like a dead end.

"Um," Xiao Zhen scratched her head. "Is this what you were going to show us?"

"No," Bai Xing said, then placed the palm of her hand flat against the wall - and with a grinding shudder, it moved aside to reveal another entrance. "I led you here to show you this," she said, gesturing for Xiao Zhen and Scholar Yuan to step inside.

Birds - birds everywhere, flying and swooping in every direction in a profusion of color and iridescence. Xiao Zhen blinked, trying to make out individual shapes; there were birds as scarlet as fire, birds as blue as a clear midsummer's sky, birds as green as the purest jade; birds as shiningly bright as a crystal pierced by sunlight, birds as sleek and shadowy as tendrils of mist curling around mountainous spires.

"Ai!" Scholar Yuan said under this breath, a hiss of shocked, indrawn breath. "So many here - phoenix, luan, swallow, lark, rooster, crane, goose, owl, petrel, raven, parrot - and these are all celestial birds, she's managed to capture the prince of each species. They won't die in here, but they must be miserable," he murmured.

"I don't care if they were all sparrows, it's still not right to shut up a flock of birds like this, inside a mountain with no sun and no air," Xiao Zhen snapped. "This is wrong - this is _wrong_ ," she said, trembling.

Bai Xing descended in front of them, three birds perched on her arm. "Xiao Zhen, if you choose to be my disciple, I can teach you to have power over birds," she said, stroking one of the birds lightly. They were very curious creatures, these birds; they each had identical coloring, bright green bodies with stark red heads and jet-black, intelligent eyes - but they were of three different sizes, the largest the size of a raven, the smallest the size of a lark. "With such power, the sky can hold no more secrets - you will have the ability to fly anywhere you wish as swiftly as a hawk." She tossed the three birds upwards with a flick of her arm. "Well?"

"I - " Xiao Zhen started intemperately. Scholar Yuan pressed his hand against her arm discreetly, warningly. Xiao Zhen took a breath. "Again, I will consider your offer, my lady," she said, then bowed and left the tomb-like aviary as quickly as she could.

"We must free those birds," she said to Scholar Yuan as they made their way back to the shallower part of the cavern.

"I agree - but how?"

Xiao Zhen was silent all the way back, then even for a long while when they settled back around their little campfire.

Then - "Scholar Yuan," she said, looking up suddenly. "Can you give me a charm to protect me against Bai Xing's magic?"

Scholar Yuan raised his eyebrows. "What? What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't be foolish," Xiao Zhen said. "I know you must have some training in the Taoist arts, you know all these myths and all this information about magic. You must know something that can protect me against her powers, so whatever she does has no effect on me."

Scholar Yuan hesitated. "There - well, there is one trick I know," he said slowly. "But I would have to write the charm directly on your back, on your skin."

"Go ahead," Xiao Zhen said, turning around and rucking up the back of her shirt.

After Scholar Yuan was done, the cold strokes of ink raising goosebumps across Xiao Zhen's body, he blew lightly across her back. "There," he said. "You can put your shirt down. Now what are you planning to do?"

"I'll tell you," Xiao Zhen said, pulling her shirt down. "But help me find the dried duck Lady Zhan gave us," she said.

* * *

Xiao Zhen ate as noisily as she could, great smacking bites of food that she chewed with her mouth open. Nothing, nobody, no sounds except the flitting of birds overhead. Xiao Zhen sighed; for a supposedly enlightened immortal, Bai Xing didn't keep her aviary very secure. Scholar Yuan had only had to tap the same wall three times before it shuddered open again.

"Oh, how delicious this phoenix is," she said loudly, licking her lips. "Yum, yum!"

The moment the words left her tongue, a cold blast of wind blew in.

"What!" Bai Xing came in, screaming. "How dare you!" She blasted a stream of fire towards Xiao Zhen, but the flame passed harmlessly around her. Xiao Zhen swallowed exaggeratedly.

"Even more delicious than roast duck," she pronounced.

"How dare you," Bai Xing said again, trembling with fury. "These are celestial birds - how you even managed to kill one I don't know, it's appalling."

"No more appalling than trapping them inside a mountain, where they can only fly in circles and go insane, shut away from the sky and the sun," Xiao Zhen said heatedly, standing up. "You are no immortal, no enlightened one - it isn't enlightenment to steal splendor from immortal birds, that's theft."

"How dare you," Bai Xing repeated. "I was mistaken to try and take you on as a disciple, you miserable wretch - I shall banish you from these mountains this instant!"

Xiao Zhen smiled wryly. "Your little magic tricks can have no effect on me," she said gently. "And," she said, looking around the aviary, "really, if you're just going to keep these birds caged up in here, I might as well eat them anyways - oh, so many ways to cook them! Scallion and ginger, salt and pepper, black bean sauce..."

"I would sooner let them all free than have them suffer such a fate!" Bai Xing screamed.

"Really?" Xiao Zhen arched an eyebrow.

With a wordless roar of outrage, Bai Xing pushed both of her palms upward and outward, bolts of lightning crackling forth. With a great booming sound the rock above them exploded outwards, the wintry sky above suddenly pouring in sunlight. Immediately, all the birds fled, flying away so quickly that within seconds there was no trace of them.

"And so they are gone," Bai Xing said, sneering. "Even so, I am still a thousand times more powerful than you will ever be! But how is it that you have been able to evade my powers?" she demanded. "Are you an adept in some martial art yourself?"

"... Right, yes, but of course," Xiao Zhen recovered. "You have seen how whatever you do has no effect on me, do you not? The truth is, I - I am a disciple of - Master Zhang San of Erloong Mountain. He, ah, he heard of your great powers, and sent me here to test you to see if you were worthy of becoming his student, to learn the way of, um,  _Wu_ , which is how I have been able to resist you."

Bai Xing eyed her suspiciously. "And - what do you think?"

"Oh, well - I've already sent a message to him, saying you would be a most admirable student," Xiao Zhen scrambled. "I believe he would be very willing to teach you - but only if you can find him, he lives in the most secret cavern in the highest peak."

"There's no way anybody can hide from me, adept or no," Bai Xing vowed. "Where did you say he lived again? Erloong Mountain?" But before Xiao Zhen could respond, Bai Xing had already leapt into the air, flying away in a whistling ripple of white silk.

Scholar Yuan looked at the woman's rapidly retreating form for a moment, then looked back at Xiao Zhen. "I've never heard of Erloong Mountain."

"Well, I wouldn't expect you to know, with your inability to read maps," Xiao Zhen said with a straight face.

"And I've never heard of Master Zhang San," he continued, following Xiao Zhen as she turned to walk back through the tunnels to their packs.

"You're not a very learned scholar, either," she said, finally cracking a grin. "But I suppose that somebody who doesn't exist should have a little more success hiding, right?"

"She really wasn't very observant for someone with her talents," Scholar Yuan mused. "Really, there's no way she should have been fooled into thinking that dried duck looks the same as roast phoenix - and phoenixes are damn difficult to kill, and you always feel like you're just eating ash anyways..." he trailed off as Xiao Zhen raised her eyebrows at him. "Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything," he added hastily. "But if I were, I would say it's not as bad as it sounds because the birds are just going to pop up again anyways in a new body, so..." he coughed.

Xiao Zhen took pity on him. "So what was the charm you wrote on my back?" she asked.

"Oh, it was very simple," he said. "I wrote the character for purity while reciting a blessing," he explained. "清."

"What, that was it?" Xiao Zhen demanded.

"Yes, it is a simple trick," Scholar Yuan agreed. "But the secret is that it only protects those who are truly pure of heart, so it is rarely effective."

"I - oh," Xiao Zhen said, suddenly blushing. "Oh."

They rounded the corner and approached the now-extinguished campfire; but there was company awaiting them, for perched upon their packs were the three green birds with scarlet heads that Xiao Zhen had last seen perched upon Bai Xing's arm.

"Oh," Xiao Zhen said, coming to a halt. "But why didn't they fly away with the others?"

The smallest bird cawed a few times, a suprisingly low chirruping sound. Scholar Yuan cocked his head, kneeling down to look at them.

"You know, I think they want to take us somewhere," he said slowly.

"What, these three little birds?" Xiao Zhen asked doubtfully.

Scholar Yuan looked up at her, his eyes serious. "I may not be very good at reading maps, but you should pay more attention when you go to pray at the temples in Chang'an. These three birds - Da Li, Xiao Li, and Qing Niao - they are the three messengers of the Queen Mother of the West."

Xiao Zhen froze.

"Come on," Scholar Yuan said, taking her suddenly clammy hand and wrapping it around the tail feathers of the largest bird. "We're almost there."


	5. Chapter 5

They flew. They flew straight upwards, with such great speed and the wind tearing at them so violently that tears were ripped heedlessly from Xiao Zhen's eyes. Xiao Zhen very quickly lost all feeling throughout her body; it felt like the only reason she was still hanging on was because her fingers were frozen in place. Eventually, Xiao Zhen fell into a half-conscious daze, hardly aware of anything anymore - only the warmth of Scholar Yuan's hand over hers anchoring her to wakefulness at all.

Finally - finally, finally, Xiao Zhen felt her feet touch solid ground, her body crumpling like wet paper promptly thereafter.

"Xiao Zhen? Xiao Zhen?" Scholar Yuan said worriedly. "Here, come on, sit up," he said, looping his arm around her back.

"Wait, where are we?" Xiao Zhen asked hazily, feeling warmth slowly begin to bleed back into her body. After a moment her eyes focused enough to realize that she was in a clearing, soft grass beneath her and an opulence of flowers all around - bright peonies blossoming on the surrounding trees, silken camellias nodding in the gentle breeze.

"You are in my garden," said a new voice, and Xiao Zhen looked over to see a tall, serene woman standing nearby, richly garbed in brocaded silks and wearing a _sheng_ headdress in her hair, two jade discs connected by an axle. The expression on the woman's face was one of such wisdom and infinite knowledge that Xiao Zhen knew instantly that this was the Queen Mother of the West, and that she was in the presence of a goddess. She scrambled upward and immediately prostrated herself, Scholar Yuan doing likewise next to her.

"You may rise," the Queen Mother said, and when Xiao Zhen looked up she saw that the Queen Mother was actually smiling at her. "I do not ordinarily let mortals enter here unless they bear the Mandate of Heaven," she said. For a moment her image flickered from that of a serene, refined figure to that of something much different - her hair disheveled and her headdress gleaming as piercingly as the sun on the sea - tiger fangs protruding from her mouth, her hands transformed into tiger paws - a shining dragon's tail coiling and uncoiling beneath her - and then just as quickly, the image flickered back.

"But I decided to make an exception for you, for the kindnesses you showed to the animals who serve me in the mortal world," she said, and Xiao Zhen suddenly noticed that the three green birds were perched on her shoulder, and at her feet was a tortoise, a nine-tailed fox, and a rabbit whose fur was a lustrous as the finest white jade.

Xiao Zhen swallowed. "Queen Mother," she said. "I am here to - "

"I know why you are here," she said. "But I'm afraid I cannot help you."

Xiao Zhen felt her stomach drop. "But - "

"The Peaches of Immortality can only be harvested every three thousand years, and there is still some time to wait for the new crop," she said. "And the juice of the Peaches is a very severe form of the Elixir of Life; only those who are already enlightened or very near enlightenment can tolerate it. For all others, ingesting it would burn through their stomachs the same way swallowing strong acid would. No, your cousin cannot be saved in this way; but there is someone very close by who can prepare the cure for you."

"What?' Xiao Zhen said, her heart leaping. "Who?"

The Queen Mother nodded slightly, and Xiao Zhen turned to look, flabbergasted, at a very sheepish-looking Scholar Yuan.

"You should perhaps explain to Xiao Zhen," the Queen Mother said gently, "who you really are."

* * *

"My name," Scholar Yuan said, "Is Yuan Liang-He, and I am an official in the Celestial Ministry of Medicine, _Tian Yiyuan_."

"Wait," Xiao Zhen said. "So you're a god."

"Only a minor one," he said, ducking his head.

"I knew it!" she said, accusing. "I knew from the beginning that there was something very strange about you, no Imperial Scholar could ever be such a terrible poet!"

"Well, the examinations in Heaven are different!" he said defensively.

"Let him continue," the Queen Mother said quietly.

"I am an official in the the Celestial Ministry of Medicine," Scholar Yuan continued, glaring at Xiao Zhen. "I used to work to develop cures for diseases, to counterbalance the labors of the Ministry of Epidemics. One day, my superior asked me to deliver the cure for the _Dengyue_ plague to the Sage of Moon Lotus Lake - even sages can fall sick, although they usually recover if they make an effort to, but someone in the ministry owed this particular sage a favor.

I was traveling to Moon Lotus Lake when I passed by a farmhouse in the region nearby. I happened to look in, and I saw that one of the family's daughters was struck sick with the _Dengyue_ plague."

Scholar Yuan stopped for a moment.

"The Dengyue plague acts quickly," he said, quiet. "Shortly after infection, the patient starts vomiting and then rapidly loses fluids; sores develop all over the body, and a few days later the patient starts bleeding inside until the death arrives, and it is not an easy death. And so - and so instead of fulfilling my duty and continuing on to Moon Lotus Lake, I went into the house and gave the cure to the little girl."

Xiao Zhen touched Scholar Yuan's hand. "You did a good thing," she said.

"Well, my superior didn't think so. When I returned to the Ministry and explained what I'd done, my superior was extremely angry at me and accused me of upsetting the balance of Heaven. As punishment, he said since I had cured someone of the _Dengyue_ plague that I wasn't supposed to, now I had to give the _Dengyue_ plague to some other person in order to restore balance. He banished me to wander the earth disguised as a mortal until I infected someone with this," he said, withdrawing a small vial filled with dark liquid from his pocket.

Xiao Zhen stared at him, suddenly understanding. "So that's why you looked so sad all the time," she said. "Watching people come and go at the tea house, you were looking for somebody you were going to make sick!"

"I went to the capital, because I thought there would be so many people that it wouldn't be difficult to find somebody evil to infect," Scholar Yuan said glumly. "But I just couldn't make myself do it!" he sighed. "But Queen Mother," he said, turning to the goddess. "What does this have to do with Xiao Zhen's cousin?"

"Scholar Yuan," the goddess said chidingly. "Have you been wandering the earth so long that you've forgotten your past work? The woman Bai Xing that you encountered couldn't prepare the cure for the Burning Sickness, but _you_ can."

"But the recipe is dozens of steps long! And you need lots of equipment, and hundreds of ingredients!" Scholar Yuan protested.

"You will find all you need either in my palace or in my garden," the goddess said. "You have the knowledge, and the ability; the only question is whether you have the will, Scholar Yuan."

Xiao Zhen looked at Scholar Yuan, pleading. "Please try," she said.

Scholar Yuan looked at her hand touching his, then suddenly gripped it tightly and looked back up at her. "All right," he said. "I'll need your help."

* * *

Time had no meaning in the garden of the Queen Mother of the West; Scholar Yuan sent Xiao Zhen hunting and combing through the garden and palace of the Queen Mother of the West for all sorts of strange plants and obscure minerals. But even as Xiao Zhen continued to run to and fro, sometimes stopping to ask the numerous attendants and other lesser deities inhabiting the palace for help or directions, she never felt tired, and the sun never seemed to move in the sky. The beauty of the Queen Mother's palace and grounds was undeniable, but now with the cure so close at hand all Xiao Zhen could think about was Yi Ling.

After some immeasurable amount of time, Xiao Zhen watched as Scholar Yuan finally sprinkled the last ingredient into the cauldron; the liquid inside appeared to freeze for a moment, then in a burst of noise and steam began bubbling over furiously. Finally, Xiao Zhen brought her arm down cautiously to see Scholar Yuan reaching down to scoop up something at the bottom of the container.

"Is it done?" she asked.

"Yes, it is," Scholar Yuan said, triumphantly holding up the vial, which was now full of clear green liquid.

"Very good," the Queen Mother of the West said, gliding in. "Your cousin is still alive," she said to Xiao Zhen. "The cure is not too late."

"Thank you, Queen Mother of the West," Xiao Zhen said, kneeling. "But I feel I still must hurry, if only to spare my aunt and uncle their anxiety."

"Of course," the goddess said. "I will send you back directly."

"But Queen Mother," Scholar Yuan interjected. "Do you have any advice for my problem? How am I to find someone whom I can give the plague to?"

The goddess smiled at him. "Did your superior tell you that you had to give the plague to a mortal?"

"I - oh," he said, understanding dawning. "Oh. But - there will be a lot of paperwork involved," he said.

"There always is," she agreed.

"Sorry, what are you talking about?" Xiao Zhen said, utterly confused.

"Oh, Scholar Yuan is just - planning the next step of his journey," the goddess said peacably. Xiao Zhen's mind stuttered to a stop.

"You - you're not coming with me?"

"I - no, actually, I think - there are some things I need to take care of," Scholar Yuan said; he suddenly appeared completely distracted.

"Oh," Xiao Zhen said; she didn't know why she was so shocked. Of course Scholar Yuan couldn't accompany her everywhere forever, he had been more than kind to go with her on her journey in the first place, and now it was over. She swallowed, then turned towards the goddess. "I'm ready."

The Queen Mother of the West smiled down at her. "Now," she said, reaching forward to touch Xiao Zhen's forehead. "Just close your eyes."

The moment Xiao Zhen shut her eyes, there was suddenly a great whistling and roaring in her ears, as if she was standing in the middle of a hurricane. Then there was suddenly the impact of her feet landing on stone, and the wind died down to nothing. Xiao Zhen stumbled backwards, her eyes snapping open, and she looked up to see the stone statue of the Queen Mother of the West looking down at her. She was sprawled on the steps in front of the Temple of Nine Radiances; she was back in Chang'an.

* * *

"Uncle! Aunt! Uncle!" Xiao Zhen cried out, running through the house.

"Xiao Zhen!" her uncle turned in the hallway and caught her up in a crushing embrace. "You've returned, your aunt and I have been so worried about you."

Xiao Zhen closed her eyes and hugged back tightly. "I'm fine, I've had such an adventure," she said. "But I must see Yi Ling immediately!"

Her cousin's skin felt like a burning brand as Xiao Zhen opened her cousin's mouth and tipped the contents of the vial in. Xiao Zhen held her breath, gathering Yi Ling's limp hand in hers.

One moment; two. Three.

Yi Ling's eyelids began fluttering, and then the next instant she was blinking up at the ceiling. Xiao Zhen let out a breath that was closer to a sob.

"Cousin? Xiao Zhen?" Yi Ling said, making some weak movements as if she was trying to sit up. "Why am I sweating so much?" she asked plaintively, and Xiao Zhen could already feel her cousin's hand becoming noticeably cooler. The fever had broken.

* * *

Yi Ling's recovery was slow, but steady; Aunt and Uncle Lu pampered their daughter even more than before, even going so far as to indulge her in admitting a certain gentleman visitor - apparently when Scholar Chang had learned of Yi Ling's illness, he had been so worried that he had knocked on the door and begged to be allowed to write Yi Ling letters, even if he could not visit her sick room. But now that the fever was broken, Scholar Chang became a daily visitor to the Lu household.

"Yes, I found out about Yi Ling's illness from one of your uncle's fellow merchants," Scholar Chang said when Xiao Zhen asked. "Actually, I sent my friend Scholar Yuan to your uncle's tea house to see if he could find you to ask for information - right before your uncle sent you away to the countryside so you wouldn't fall ill too," he said, parroting the highly edited version her uncle had agreed to tell to anybody who remarked on Xiao Zhen's prolonged absence. Scholar Chang frowned. "Did he ever find you? And have you seen him lately? I haven't been able to find him anywhere, and nobody seems to know where he's gone."

"He - he did find me, right before I left," Xiao Zhen said. "But no, I haven't seen him recently. I don't know where he is either."

There was no use in self-pity, Xiao Zhen told herself sternly. She'd survived the loss of her family; she could survive this.

So after about a week, after Xiao Zhen was sure that Yi Ling was well on her way back to her previous good health, she returned to her work at the tea house. And if her breath caught in her chest every time she thought she saw a familiar profile - well, she kept it to herself.

But about a fortnight after Xiao Zhen had returned home from her journey, Xiao Zhen was walking back into the kitchen when a certain voice called out from the main dining room.

"Miss, I'd like a pot of tea when you get the chance," Scholar Yuan called out from a corner table.

Xiao Zhen turned slowly, unable to believe her ears - but no, there he was, as dear and familiar as ever.

"You - " her voice failed her. "Where have you _been_?"

Scholar Yuan grinned cheekily at her. "Hurry up, please, miss, I'm thirsty!" he said, holding up his cup.

* * *

"No, really, where have you been?" Xiao Zhen asked again, once she'd brought a fresh pot over and seated herself across from him.

"I've been preparing my resignation materials for my position at the Celestial Ministry of Medicine," Scholar Yuan said, pouring some tea for himself. "There was an incredible amount of paperwork to fill out, it was unbelievable how long it took to complete all of it. But I haven't submitted them yet, because I wanted to ask you a question."

Xiao Zhen looked at him in confusion. Scholar Yuan pulled out the vial of black liquid and held it between his index finger and thumb. "Would you - would you be all right if I swallowed this?"

" _What?_ " she said. "No, of course not! I don't want you to die!"

"No, no," he said. "It's true that if a mortal were swallow this and contract the _Dengyue_ plague, he would die within a matter of days. But, if a minor god were to swallow this, and make no special effort to recover from it - well, that minor god would become mortal."

"But why would you want to do that?"

"Because if I became mortal, and resigned from the Celestial Ministry," Scholar Yuan said, looking at her steadily, "I could stay here, on earth."

"Oh," Xiao Zhen said.

"With you," he further clarified.

" _Oh_ ," Xiao Zhen said, then immediately started blushing furiously.

"So, would - would that make you unhappy?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh, no, it would - " Xiao Zhen bit her lip and forced herself to look up. "It would make me very happy," she said, her voice trembling only a little.

Scholar Yuan smiled, his entire face lighting up. "Good," he said, opening the vial and tipping the jet-black liquid into his tea. He took a sip, grimacing.

"So," Xiao Zhen said, feeling unspeakably giddy. "How long until you start developing sores and bleeding? I can't wait," she said.

"Aiya, that I should choose such a cold-hearted girl," Scholar Yuan said, grinning as he took another sip. "You'll have to wait a few days for that, but the vomiting should start soo - " he stopped, abruptly looking extremely queasy.

"Not all over the table!" cried Xiao Zhen, but it was already too late.

 

**Author's Note:**

> References:  
> 100 Chinese Myths and Fantasies by Ding Wangdao  
> Transcendence and Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China by Suzanne Cahill  
> Chinese Mythology A to Z, 2nd Ed. by Jeremy Roberts  
> Holy Mothers of Ancient China: A New Approach to the Hsi-wang-mu problem by Riccardo Fracasso (paper in journal T'oung Pao, Second Series, Vol. 74, Livr. 1/3, published 1988)


End file.
